Weekly Links: This week, facing pressure, MARTA adds more light rail for the Beltline while cutting funding for Emory rail. Also, this month is on pace to be the hottest September on record in Atlanta. Plus, Georgia finally got its very own model solar zoning ordinance!

This week, spending $2 billion to develop the downtown Gulch isn’t sitting well with the Atlanta city council, at least for now. Plus, someone has finally made a useful 3-D map showing the steepness of streets. And Ben Carson and HUD may do the unthinkable: attempt to restrict exclusionary zoning to promote affordable housing.

Weekly Links: We all love colorful, striking maps. Unfortunately, our brains aren’t great at quickly decoding lots of colors, so scientists and cartographers would like us to stop asking for colors and just embrace duller, more informative imagery. Also, a new study shows that pollution leads to cognitive decline, particularly among older men. And coastal home prices are taking a hit due to rising sea levels.

This week, what’s the deal with the recent poll showing that only 66% of young people firmly believe the Earth is round? And, when are we getting our long promised glow-in-the-dark trees to replace city street lamps? Plus, leave it to this EPA to propose a regulation that it admits will result in 1,400 more deaths.

Three years after Tybee Island business owners objected to a proposed plastic bag ban and the Georgia Senate passed a bill prohibiting cities from adopting such bans, the nation’s largest grocer said it will eliminate plastic bags from all its stores.

This week, a global livability study says Atlanta fell in the rankings due to riots. Ah…okay. Also, as part of the ongoing Amazon charade, Atlanta will apparently offer the company $1 billion in incentives to locate their HQ2 campus in the downtown gulch. And Atlanta officials are finally treating public signs like works of art that actually try to inform people of rules.

Weekly Links: America dedicates 40% of its land to raising and feeding livestock, California’s Carr Fire may have produced an actual fire tornado with winds of 150 mph, and an intriguing map shows that the land that now comprises modern day Atlanta was a nexus point for three major Native American communities.